Alwin Köhler awarded ERC Advanced Grant
Alwin Köhler, group leader and scientific director at the Max Perutz Labs, has been awarded a European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant to investigate how nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) remodel nuclear membranes to form functional channels – a process he proposes is closely linked to lipid chemistry and nuclear membrane metabolism. The project seeks to uncover how cells sculpt the nucleus without rupturing it, which is a question that lies at the heart of eukaryotic life. This is Alwin Köhler’s third ERC grant, following earlier Starting and Consolidator Grants.
Recognizing research talent: Max Perutz PhD fellows 2025
The Max Perutz PhD Fellowship celebrates outstanding young scientists at the Perutz tackling fundamental biological questions. This year, Magdalena Otto (Leonard lab) and Daniel Velikov (Matos lab) have been awarded the fellowship for their PhD projects in cell signaling and meiosis. Both Magdalena and Daniel are decoding how cells manage complex molecular processes – under stress and during reproduction.
Flying in the face of conventional wisdom
The function of centriolar satellites – cytoplasmic particles found in the vicinity of centrosomes and the base of cilia – has long been enigmatic. From studies of the component protein PCM1, satellites were thought to shuttle proteins to help build the centrosome and cilium. However, a new study from the Dammermann lab published in the Journal of Cell Biology challenges this view, proposing instead that satellites may serve a very different purpose – one tied to translation and translation-coupled protein quality control.
Three Perutz group leaders secure FWF funding
Three group leaders at the Max Perutz Labs have been granted Principal Investigator Projects by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), securing a total of nearly €1.5 million in research funding. Sebastian Falk will investigate the molecular connection between mRNA splicing and decay within the exosome, while Robert Konrat will develop advanced NMR techniques for studying intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), which play critical roles in health and disease. Peter Schlögelhofer’s project focuses on the non-cohesive roles of the cohesin complex in shaping chromosome architecture during meiosis.
A kinase goes into the recycling business
RAF1 is best known as a key signal transducer in the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, where it controls cell proliferation and survival. Emerging evidence, however, suggests it may have additional, unexpected roles. In a new study published in Cell Reports, PhD student and first author Stefanie Toifl (Baccarini lab) uncovers a surprising function: together with newly identified substrates, RAF1 is required for efficient autophagic lysosome reformation.
Edvinas Stankunas named Medical University of Vienna Researcher of the Month
Each month, the Medical University of Vienna highlights selected researchers and their work. In May, Edvinas Stankunas, a PhD student in the Köhler lab, is featured for his first-author publication in Nature Cell Biology in 2024.
A not so futile cycle?
The E3 ubiquitin ligase TRIM52 is one of the most unstable proteins in the human proteome. Curiously, however, despite having been lost in most mammals, TRIM52 has been retained in humans and old-world primates. In work recently published in Nature Communications, former PhD student Alexandra Shulkina (Versteeg lab) reveals that TRIM52 confers a fitness advantage to cells by helping to resolve topoisomerase 2 DNA lesions.
FWF ESPRIT Postdoc fellowship for Virginia Busetto
Virginia Busetto, postdoctoral researcher in the Falk lab, has been awarded the ESPRIT fellowship from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). The ESPRIT fellowship supports early-career researchers in developing scientific independence, providing a foundation for leading their own research groups in the future.
This is not a phosphatase
Phosphorylation serves as a key on-and-off switch in cell signaling, such as in the Akt pathway, which regulates cell growth and is often upregulated in cancer. Master students Tarik Husremović and Vanessa Meier from the Leonard lab now reveal, in a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), that the phosphatases PHLPP1 and PHLPP2 – previously believed to dephosphorylate Akt and suppress tumor growth – are neither phosphatases nor tumor suppressors. Although catalytically dead, the authors found that PHLPP is actually descended from an ancient phosphatase. These findings suggest that PHLPP plays a non-catalytic role within an old but conserved biological process.
FWF Principal Investigator Project grant for Martin Leeb
Perutz group leader Martin Leeb receives funding from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) for his Principal Investigator Project ‘Functional Gene Networks in Naïve and Formative Pluripotency‘. The total funding volume is more than €650,000 for the next four years.
Emmanuelle Charpentier awarded Honorary Doctorate by the University of Vienna
Nobel Laureate and former Perutz faculty member, Emmanuelle Charpentier, has received an honorary doctorate from the University of Vienna in recognition of her groundbreaking contributions to CRISPR gene editing, as well as her longstanding connections to Vienna’s research community.
Location, location, location
The formation of euchromatin and heterochromatin divides the cell’s nucleus into regions of active and inactive genes. However, intriguingly, some active genes are located within heterochromatic regions at the nuclear periphery. In a new study published in Nature Communications, the Foisner lab reveals how these genes are anchored to the nuclear lamina. Their research uncovers a novel tethering mechanism, whereby proteins bind to enhancer-type cis-regulatory elements rather than directly to the genes they regulate.
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